The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate, wherein the passive device has at least a conductive layer having a reduced parasitic capacitance to the substrate and also relates to improvements for the semiconductor device to have high resistance to pressure and vibration.
The recent years, it has been proposed that in addition to active devices such as MOS field effect transistors and bipolar transistors, passive devices such as inductors and capacitors be integrated on the same LSI chip. The formation of the passive device on the silicon substrate may raise the problem in deterioration of electric characteristics of the passive devices due to a parasitic capacitance between the silicon substrate and conductive layer in the passive device. In Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 7-122710, it is disclosed to form a deep cavity in the silicon substrate under the passive device formation region on which the passive device will be formed. In Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers, 1996 D. Hisamoto et al., it is addressed that an inductor device as the passive device is integrated on the silicon substrate. This conventional technique will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. FIG. 1 is a fragmentary cross sectional elevational view illustrative of a conventional semiconductor device having an inductive device as a passive device on a silicon substrate. FIG. 2 is a cross sectional plan view illustrative of a silicon substrate on which an inductive device as a passive device is integrated to form the conventional semiconductor device of FIG. 1 which is a cross sectional elevation view taken along I-Ixe2x80x2 line of FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrative of the conventional semiconductor device of FIG. 1, which is a cross sectional elevation view taken along a I-Ixe2x80x2 line of FIG. 3.
A cavity 72 is formed in a silicon substrate 61. A silicon oxide film 65 is formed on a surface of the silicon substrate so that the bottom of the silicon oxide film 65 defines an upper boundary of the cavity 72. An inter-layer insulator 67 is formed on the silicon oxide layer 65. A first level interconnection 66 is formed on the silicon oxide film 65 and within the inter-layer insulator 67. A contact plug 68 is formed on the first level interconnection 66 and within the inter-layer insulator 67. Second level interconnections 70 are formed on the inter-layer insulator 67. A through hole 71 is formed which penetrate both the inter-layer insulator 67 and the silicon oxide layer 65 so that the through hole 71 reaches the cavity 72 formed in the silicon substrate 61. An inductor device 76 comprising the first and second level interconnections 66 and 70 is thus formed over the cavity 72 formed in the silicon substrate 61. Namely, the cavity 72 extends under the entire of the inductor device formation region on which the inductor device 76 is formed. The cavity 72 reduces the parasitic capacitance between the silicon substrate 61 and the first and second level interconnections 66 and 70, thereby improving frequency characteristics of the inductor device 76. Namely, the high frequency performance of the inductor device is improved by the cavity 72. The inductor device has an inductance in the range of 7.6-7.7 nH and also improves the resonant frequency from 8.7 GHz to 19.6 GHz, namely the resonant frequency is increased by two times or more.
The inductance xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d of the inductor device depends upon the external dimension xe2x80x9cXxe2x80x9d and the number of windings xe2x80x9cnxe2x80x9d as well as a width xe2x80x9cWxe2x80x9d of the interconnections and a pitch xe2x80x9cSxe2x80x9d of the interconnections. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrative of the dependency of an inductance xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d upon the external dimension xe2x80x9cXxe2x80x9d of the inductor device, where the width xe2x80x9cWxe2x80x9d and the pitch xe2x80x9cSxe2x80x9d of the interconnections are 20 micrometers and the number of windings xe2x80x9cnxe2x80x9d is 3.5.
In order to obtain the inductance in the range of 7.6-7.7 nH, it is necessary that the external dimension xe2x80x9cXxe2x80x9d of the inductor device be 500 micrometers and that the cavity size be 500 micrometers by 500 micormeters. If vibration and pressure are applied to the semiconductor device, the silicon oxide film 65 and the inter-layer insulator 67 may be broken, whereby the inductor device 76 is dropped into the cavity 72 formed in the silicon substrate 61.
In the above circumstances, it was required to develop a novel semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate, wherein the passive device has at least a conductive layer having a reduced parasitic capacitance to the substrate and also the semiconductor device is improved in mechanical strength against external mechanical forces such as pressure and vibration.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate free from the above problems.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate, wherein characteristics and performance of the passive device are improved.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a novel semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate, wherein high frequency performance of the inductor device is improved.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a novel semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate, wherein mechanical strength of the semiconductor device against external forces such as pressure and vibration are improved.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method of forming a semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate free from the above problems.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel method of forming a semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate, wherein characteristics and performance of the passive devices are improved.
It is moreover an object of the present invention to provide a novel method of forming a semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate, wherein high frequency performance of an inductor device is improved.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method of forming a semiconductor device having an integration of passive devices or passive and active devices on a single semiconductor substrate, wherein mechanical strength of the semiconductor device against external forces such as pressure and vibration is improved.
The present invention provides a cavity structure formed in a semiconductor substrate and under a passive device formation region on which a passive device if formed, wherein the cavity structure has at least one of supporting pillars and supporting walls for providing the passive device formation region with a mechanical strength.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following descriptions.